June 30

There were a few ups and downs in the last couple weeks, but no major changes.

On Tuesday the doctors decided to get Quintin back on a ventilator. He’s still fighting infections in his lungs, and the purpose of the vent was to help keep his lungs open so his body can clear the build up.

From Wednesday through Saturday afternoon he was moved back to the ICU (West Wing ICU this time). This was mainly because of the vent, and because for those few days he simply needed more care than was appropriate for the 3-4 patient-per-nurse ratio in TRACU. They did at least one broncoscopy, kept him on the ventilator, and decided Saturday he was ready to return to TRACU. On Sunday the respiratory therapist said she wasn’t getting much gunk out when she used the trach suction tube, and that’s great – it means the vent, antibiotics, and Quintin’s efforts combined got his lungs into better shape.

People have been asking recently what Q looks like right now. The number one question has been about his hair. Yes, they had to cut his hair, twice actually (because he had two separate brain surgeries). For the first surgery (in April) they shaved all his hair off. The second time (a month later) they only shaved part of his head, so after several weeks of growth time, it’s a little lopsided. The right side is long enough for bed head, the left is still pretty short. One of his nurses said that his hair growing this much means they’re feeding him well. As well as you can through a tube, I guess.

He has lost some weight and muscle tone, as happens when you’re in bed for this long. Thankfully he was in excellent shape going into this, and his joint mobility is still good. One of the hospital’s occupational therapists showed us how to do some of the range of motion exercises and that’s really nice – it’s a way we can actively help.